Chan Lowe: Rick Scott and random drug testing

Rick Scott's smaller government

February 29, 2012|by Chan Lowe

Gov. Rick Scott has said that it’s important to make sure Florida's state workforce is drug free. Because of this, he has supported a bill moving through the Republican-dominated Legislature that mandates random drug testing of state employees, whether or not there is an indication of drug use. The courts will have something to say about this, but meanwhile let’s not let the Constitution get in the way of solons stampeding in an election year.

At a time when everyone’s priority should be the economy and jobs, one can only conclude that the reason for this tangential effort is simply to stick it to public employees because they are unionized, and therefore by definition stand in the way of the lean, mean government structure we all crave.

It’s a good thing that elected officials, including the governor and the Legislature, are exempted from this bill. Judging by some of the legislation they’ve considered lately regarding firearms, women’s issues and, most recently, an attempt to outlaw Sharia and Jewish law from being observed by the courts (which they aren’t, anyway), it’s the Legislature that is showing signs of drug use.